Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-01

round and round him IN an ever-narrow-
ing circle. Putting his pony to cantef,
John proceeded to do this with heart
1 beating with excitement. Round and
round he went; the ''pauw" had van
ished now; he was squatting in the tuft OF
grass. The last circle brought him to
within seventy yards, and he did not dare
risk il any more, so jumping OH his pony
he ran in towards the bird as hard as ever
he could 90. Before he had covered ten
wards the paw was rising, but they
are heavy birds, and he was within forty
yards before it was fairly on the wing
Then he pulled up and fired both harreis
of No. 4 into it, Down it came, and, IN
cautious man, he rushed forward Ut TN
umph without reloading his gun. Already
was his hand outstretched TO receive the
prize. when, behold! the great wings
stretched themselves out and the bird was
| fiyine away. John stood dancing upon
the veldt, but observing that it settled
within q couple of hundred yards, ran
back, mounted his pony, and pursued II:
When he got near it it rose again, ana
flew this time hundred yards only, and
so it went on till at last he got within gun
shot of the king of birds and killed it.
By this time he was right across the
mountain-top, and on the brink of the
most remarkable chasm he had ever seen.
The place was known as Lions KloOt, or
Leuw Kloof in Dutch, because three lions
had once been penned up by party oil
Beers and shot there. The chasm or gorge
was between quarter and half mile
long, about six hundred feet in width, and
hundred and fifty to a hundred and
eighty feet deep. 1t evidently owed its
origin TO the action of running water, for
at its head, Just at the right of where John
! Mel stood. little stream yelling from
hidden springs in the flat mountain-top
trickled from strata to strata, forming n
series of crystal pools and tiny waterfalls,
| till at last it reached the bottom OF the
mighty gorge, and pursued its way, hall
hidden by the umbrella-topped mlmosa
and other thOrns that were scattered about,
through it 10 the plains beyond. EVl-
IDENTIFY this little stream was the parent OF
the gulf it flowed down and through, but
how many centuries Of patient, never
ceasing flow, wOndeSed John Mel must
have been necessary to the vast result De-
| fore him? First centuries of saturatlon oil
the soil piled on and between the he'd
rocks that lay beneath it and Jutted up
through it, then centuries of floods caused
by rain and perhaps by melting SHOWS, to
wash away the lOOsened mould; then cen
turtles upon centuries more of flowing and
of rainials to wash the debris clean ana
complete the colossal work.
say the rocks that iutted up through
the soil, for the gulf was not clean cut.
All along its sides, and here and there In
it's arena, stood up mighty columns or
fingers of rock, not solid columns, but
columns formed by huge powders piled
mason fashion one upon adOther, as though
| the Titans of some dead age had employed
themselves in building them up, overcom-
| ing their tendency to fall by the mere
crushing weight above, that kept them
steady even when the wild breath Of the
storms came bowling down the gorge and
| tried its strength against them. About a
hundred paces from the near end of the
gorge, some ninety or more feet in height,
stood the most remarkable of these mighty
pillars, TO which the remains ut Stone
henge are hut toys. 1t was formed OF
seven huge powders the largest, that at
the bottom, about the size of moderate
cottare. and the smallest that at the top,
perhaps some eight or ten feet in diameter.
These powders were rounded like a
cricket-ball, evidently through the action
of water-and yet the hand of Nature had
contrived to balance them, each one
smaller than that beneath, the one upon
the other and to keep them so. But this
was not always the case. For instance,
very similar mass that had risen on the
near side of the perfect pillar had fallen,
all except the two bottom stones, and the
powders that went to torn 1t lay scat
tered about like mOnStTOus petritied can
non balls One of these had split IN two,
and seated on it John discovered none
other than Jess Croft, apparently engaged
in sketching, looking very small and far
off ut the bottom OF that vast chaSm.
John got of his shOOtiug-pOny, and
looking about him perceived that it was
possible to descend by following the course
of the stream and clambering down the
natural steps it had cut in the rocky bed.
Throwing the reins over the pOny'S head,
and leaving him with the dog Pontiac to
stand and look about him rs South Africa
shooting ponies are accustomed to do he
put down his gun aud game and proceeded
to descend, pausing every now and again
to admire the wild beauty of the scene and
look ut the hundred varieties of moss and
ferns, the last mostly of the maidcn.h hair
(cdpaIa reacris) genus, that clothed every
Granny and every rock where they could
find roothOld and get relreshment from the
water or the spray of the cascades. As he
drew near the bottom OF the gorge he saw
that near the borders of the stream, wher-
ever the soil was moist, grew thousands
upon thousands uf white arum lilies, pig
| lilies they call them there, just now IN
| full bloom. He had noticed these lilies
from above but they had, owing to the
distance, looked so small that he had taken
them for cverlastingS or anemones. lie
could not see Jess now, for she was hid
den by Il bush that grows by the banks of
| the streams in South Africa i'll lOw-lylng
| land, and which at certain seasons OF the
year is literally covered WITH masses OF the
most gOrgenrs -.,.mIeJ bloom. His foot
sterss Tell very softly on the moss and flow
ers, and when he got round the glorious
looking bush it was evident that she had
not heard him, for she was asleep. Her
| HAT was OH, Dul llle blSu SutuCu uSl, Gnu
her head had fallen forward over her
sketching block and rested on her hand.
A ray of light that came through the bush
played upon her curling brown hair and
threS warm shadows on her white face and
the white wrist and hand on which 1t
rested.
III ~ @ :,
AsES,1,; ~ SIfflgAstlli.1hn
Ml(n !, :ssss5sSss NAV
SaS$2 SslfasSSIEFE~-Ffa